Resa Berger, 37, (right) packs up her house on Third Avenue with her daughter, 15-year-old Kaylee McKibben, on Friday, Sept. 23, 2016 before the floodwaters reach the house on Sunday. (Michaela Ramm/The Gazette)

Resa Berger, 37, packs up her house on Third Avenue on Friday, Sept. 23, 2016 before the floodwaters reach the house on Sunday. (Michaela Ramm/The Gazette)

Vinton resident Resa Berger, 37, (middle) packs up her house on Third Avenue on Friday, Sept. 23, 2016 with her daughters Libby McKibben, 11, (right) and Kaylee McKibben, 15, before the floodwaters reach the house on Sunday. (Michaela Ramm/The Gazette)

Meg Walker, high school completion instructor at Kirkwood Community College Benton County Center, clears out her classroom as the center evacuates on Friday, Sept. 23, 2016. (Michaela Ramm/The Gazette)
IPTC information:

Meg Walker, high school completion instructor at Kirkwood Community College Benton County Center, clears out her classroom as the center evacuates on Friday, Sept. 23, 2016. (Michaela Ramm/The Gazette)

Volunteers prepare sandbags in Palo as the town prepares for rising floodwater from the Cedar River on Friday, Sept. 23, 2016. (Michaela Ramm/The Gazette)

Crews in Palo build a dam around the sewage lift station on Linn Drive on Friday, Sept. 23, 2016. (Michaela Ramm/The Gazette)

Peggy Edmonds, 47, of Palo, loads a trailer of Kristen Crable’s things on Friday, Sept. 23, 2016. Crable is moving every item out of her house out before the Cedar River floods her home. (Michaela Ramm/The Gazette)

The garage of Tim and Kristen Crable of Vinton as the couple prepares to move out of their home before the floodwaters hit in Palo on Friday, Sept. 23, 2016. (Michaela Ramm/The Gazette)

Kristen Crable, 29, and Peggy Edmonds, 47, of Palo, load a trailer of Crable’s things on Friday, Sept. 23, 2016 as Crable prepares to move out of her house out before the Cedar River floods her home. (Michaela Ramm/The Gazette)

VINTON/PALO — Residents in communities north of Cedar Rapids prepared for the worst Friday as the Cedar River continues to rise to levels not seen since 2008.

The Cedar River is expected to crest at 23 feet by Sunday afternoon in Vinton, about 30 miles northwest of Cedar Rapids.

Crews focused efforts on protecting the city’s municipal electric plant at 203 E. Second St. by installing as many as two layers of HESCO barriers around the building Friday. The Vinton Fire Department, as well as volunteers from neighboring towns, have been working on the effort since Thursday.

Kirkwood Community College’s Benton County Center evacuated its building on West Third Street, and moved all its furniture, technology and materials to another location.

“We went through this in 2008, I didn’t think we’d have to go through that again,” said Meg Walker, high school completion instructor at the Benton County Center.

Troy McQuillen, vice president of facilities and security at Kirkwood Community College, also evacuated in 2008.

“It’s the same protocol, but we’re beefing it up some because of lessons learned in 2008,” McQuillen said.

Kirkwood officials still are deciding on how to address disrupted classes.

McQuillen said they hope to provide technology for students to take Iowa Communications Network based classes on their personal laptops.

He said they are reaching out to other facilities, such as the Vinton-Shellsburg Middle school, about temporarily holding classes at the school.

“If there’s no water (in the building), we’ll be back in operation in two days,” McQuillen said.

Resa Berger, who lives next to Vinton’s municipal electric utility was trying Friday to move out as much as she could.

Berger moved into her rental property on Third Avenue seven months ago with her two children, Kaylee McKibben, 15, and Libby McKibben, 11.

“I took time to move in, made it our home,” Berger said. “Every picture on the wall was perfect. I worked hard to get into a house and out of an apartment.”

Berger said when she moved into the house near the river, she wasn’t expecting a flood similar to 2008.